The Teesra

Category: philosophy

_why_ we coach; why we coach the way we do

  • “Don’ts for Cricketers” – on style

    Don’t strive to bat in an “elegant” or “pretty” fashion for its own sake. That which comes natural to you as a batsman is the style to follow.

    Remarkably modern advice for the player, especially if you replace  the words “elegant” or “pretty” with “text-book” or “orthodox”! The absolute necessity for a player to find out what works for him or her is now being re-discovered, as it was back in 1906 by the author of “Don’ts…”

    And there is similar advice for the coach –

    Don’t interfere with the powers of nature: all coaching tends at first to eradicate individual peculiarities and to cramp a natural style.

  • “People Make Glasgow” – first thoughts on the Commonwealth Games #Glasgow2014

    I have just returned from a stint as a volunteer “clyde-sider” for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

    Much of my time was spent doling out travel and event information to visitors to the Games’ venues, and generally pointing people in the right direction.

    So having spent the fortnight working directly with lots of people, I was particularly taken with the new Marketing-led initiative for the city, devised by the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau – “People Make Glasgow“.

    (more…)

  • More on coaching philosophy – getting better at getting better?

    I was delighted to read recent a post from sports psychologist Dan Abrahams outlining exactly how all sportsmen (and their coaches) need to set out to “profile the next level” of performance.

    I have written previously about my coaching “philosophy” – slightly glib, perhaps, but I do believe that the aim of all coaching has to be to help the players to “get better”.

    But what is “better”?  And how do we get there? (more…)